Jimmy Hart has worn many hats during his career, but he prefers one type of jacket. Something from Lansky Bros. in Memphis.
Hart wore jackets from the legendary men’s store over the years as a wrestling manager for Jerry Lawler, Hulk Hogan, and others.
But he wore his first Lansky jacket (along with Beatle boots) when his band, The Gentrys, performed on TV’s Ted Mack & The Original Amateur Hour.
Hart will wear a special Lansky Bros. jacket tonight, September 27th, when The Gentrys are inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
Hart talked about the origin of The Gentrys, whose song “Keep on Dancing” sold a million copies worldwide and rose to number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965.
“It’s hard to kill a memory,” Hart says.
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Hart grew up around music. His mother, Sadie Hart, who wrote under the name “Sadie Sallas,” penned “Enclosed, One Broken Heart,” for singer Eddy Arnold in the 1950s.
Col. Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager, also managed Arnold. Parker asked Hart’s mother if Arnold could record it.
Hart was a student at Treadwell High School when he got a call from Larry Raspberry, who told him he was putting a band together and was looking for some singers. “I went over and I auditioned and that’s it.”
The group, which was known at first as The Gents, originally included Raspberry on guitar, Bruce Bowles and Hart on vocals, Larry Wall on drums, Pat Neal on bass, and Bobby Fisher and Jimmy Johnson on keyboards and horns.
They played at sock hops and other gigs for “spending money” at local spots. “Bruce Bowles kind of looked like John Lennon. We had that Beatles effect back then.”
Things began taking off after they met TV/radio personality George Klein at the old Berretta’s BBQ Drive In. Klein, who was host of the local TV show Talent Party, told them record producer Chips Moman was opening a brand-new studio, American Recording Studio, in Memphis. “He said, ‘Look. If you guys want to, Chips will, absolutely free, let you go to the studio and cut a little song. And I’ll put you on Talent Party.’”
Hart and his band mates cut a cover of the Rolling Stones song, “Time is On My Side.” “The next thing you know, everything took off. It was crazy.”
They entered and came in first place in the Mid-South Fair Youth Talent Contest. As the winner, the band got to audition for Ted Mack’s national TV show in Miami, Florida. “We get on the show and he introduces us, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Memphis, Tennessee’s answer to the Beatles.”
Hart and his band performed “Do You Love Me.” Their Lansky Bros. outfit included jackets with a “little bitty” checkered print and velour lapels and pockets. “We had the little Beatle boots and tight black pants and the turtle neck sweaters.”
And, he says, “Mr. Lansky gave us such a great deal since we were a struggling little group from Treadwell.”
They ended up winning round one of the show, which meant they could compete in round two.
The group returned to Miami and performed on the show. “Guess what? We won again.”
That meant they were eligible to perform on the third show. But in the meantime, the group cut “Keep on Dancing,” which became a “smash hit” after getting airplay on radio stations across the country.
That disqualified them from competing on the third Ted Mack show because they were now professionals. But the band still got to appear on the show.
They didn’t write “Keep on Dancing,” Hart says. It was another band’s song. But, Hart says, “They did it real slow. We just took it and speeded it up.”
Life suddenly changed for Hart and his fellow band members. “We’re in high school with a big hit record.”
They put out three albums on the MGM Records label. Their songs included “Spread It on Thick” and “Everyday I Have To Cry.” And, later on, The Gentrys recorded two chart toppers — “Why Should I Cry” and “Cinnamon Girl” — at Sun Records. “Cinnamon Girl” was written by Neil Young, who will also be at the Memphis Music Hall of Fame ceremony.
“We did tours with The Beach Boys, Chicago, and Steppenwolf, The Grass Roots, and Jerry Lee Lewis.”
They toured with Dick Clark’s “Caravan of Stars” and appeared on TV’s American Bandstand, Hullabaloo, Shindig, and Where the Action Is.
The band was in the 1967 beach movie It’s a Bikini World, which starred Deborah Walley and Tommy Kirk.
Hart got into wrestling when Lawler called him and asked him to help him with a “wrestling album” with vocals by Lawler. Hart then spent six years as Lawler’s manager.
His big break, he says, was when former WWE CEO Vince McMahon called him. Hart, who says DJ Ron Olson gave him the nickname “Mouth of the South,” began managing WWE wrestlers and, along with Cyndi Lauper and David Wolff, began writing entrance themes for wrestlers.
Former Memphian and photographer Pat Rainer will introduce The Gentrys at the Memphis Music Hall of Fame ceremony. “Pat Rainer was president of our fan club back then.”
Rainer, who put the fan club together, made sure the members came to their shows and voted for them, Hart says. “Pat Rainer was our secret weapon.”
Describing his Lansky’s jacket for the Memphis Music Hall of Fame ceremony, Hart says, “Lansky made that for me special.”
The jacket is “kind of a grayish blackish color, but it’s got little skulls on it. The inside of the jacket has pictures of my past in there. Me and The Gentrys. Me and Hulk Hogan. Me and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler. All kinds of different pictures.”
Jerry Williams, founder/owner of Trans Maximus Studios and TMI Records, was the business manager and organizer of another teen band, The Guilloteens, during the time Hart’s band was performing. The Gentrys were “doing rock-and-roll at that time in a very unique way,” Williams says. “Their sound and their playability and their approach was just different.”
Also, he says, “They were all good-looking kids. You knew they were a band. They were built to be a band.”
In addition to being talented, The Gentrys also acted like professionals. “When they got on stage, they were dressed like a band. And it was always neat and they put on a fabulous show.”
A lot led up to The Gentrys receiving the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. “We were just in high school having fun going to class. And all of a sudden we’re playing sock hops around Memphis and then on the road with Dick Clark.”
And now Hart will be on stage in his Lansky Bros. jacket as The Gentrys are inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. “We’ve been so blessed.”